On 1 April, the 52nd session of the Commission on Population and Development will begin at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The Commission is tasked reviewing progress made since the 1994 adoption of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, which established the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights to the well-being of people, communities and nations.

Midwives – and people with midwifery skills – are the main caregivers for women and their newborns during pregnancy, labour, childbirth and in the post-delivery period. Skilled midwives are the difference between life and death for hundreds of thousands of women and infants every year.

Yet there are massive midwife shortages around the world. UNFPA works at the global, regional and national level to scale up midwifery services, supporting training efforts and providing supplies and materials to midwifery institutions.